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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25029061">Hypothetically Speaking</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyStepsAreStillSteps/pseuds/BabyStepsAreStillSteps'>BabyStepsAreStillSteps</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dead Zone (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode Tag, Gen, Johnny Smith &amp; Bruce Lewis, Johnny and Walt are bros and no one can convince me otherwise, Post Episode s02e16: The Hunt, Walt Bannerman &amp; Johnny Smith - Freeform, post episode</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:06:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,681</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25029061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyStepsAreStillSteps/pseuds/BabyStepsAreStillSteps</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The government handlers in charge of Johnny’s extraction must have thought their clever vacation ruse would hold water, given that Johnny’s own voice announced it on his answering machine to anyone who called, but they had severely underestimated the friends Johnny was leaving behind. </p><p>Johnny was gone for three long weeks. Three weeks his friends couldn’t call him or get ahold of him, and their worry grew the longer he was gone. </p><p>Johnny may have escaped the bunker and finished his short lived stint of answering to the government, but when he got back to Cleaves Mills he would have to answer to people even more formidable. His friends.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bruce Lewis &amp; Johnny Smith, Walt Bannerman &amp; Bruce Lewis, Walt Bannerman &amp; Johnny Smith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hypothetically Speaking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summer_Meadows/gifts">Summer_Meadows</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is another canon bandaid for a plot hole my sister and didn’t understand. </p><p>We are supposed to believe that Johnny Smith, the man who has spent nearly every day of the past two years with Bruce or Walt or both can up and disappear for three weeks and no one demanded answers when he got back?</p><p>Johnny, who had been kidnapped 9 episodes before, can disappear with only an answering machine message announcing a vacation that he told no one in his life about? </p><p>My sister and I can’t fathom how that could be true, so we thought up this to explain it to ourselves.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny hurried into the station, Roscoe pointing him to the sheriff’s office without Johnny even having to ask. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ok, Walt, I’m here,” Johnny said to the sheriff as he walked through the door, “what did you need to talk to me about...?” he trailed off as he noticed Bruce sitting in one of the chairs in front of Walt’s desk, both of them looking displeased. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Bruce,” he greeted in surprise. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Johnny,” Bruce responded, short and clipped.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny glanced at Walt, noticing the sheriff also looked angry with him, and his hand clenched on the doorknob, debating if he should pull the door back open and march out of the station to avoid whatever this confrontation was. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Sit,” Walt commanded, and Johnny reluctantly released his grip on the doorknob and gingerly sat, watching them both warily. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What do we need to talk about?” he asked, casting concerned looks at the both of them. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Your vacation,” Bruce said in the tone of presenting damning evidence. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny stared at him for a long moment, trying to understand what Bruce was mad about. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh, ok? I drove down to Kennebunkport, it was fun? Nothing illegal, why are we having this conversation in the sheriff’s office?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Because it might be illegal when you didn’t actually go to Kennebunkport,” Walt said seriously. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What?” Johnny asked, internally kicking himself for letting his voice go slightly too high. “Of course I did.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Except you didn’t,” Walt said firmly. He pulled papers out of a folder on his desk and dropped one of them</span> <span class="s1"> in front of Johnny. “You expect us to believe that you drove over a hundred miles away and never once had to get gas or use your credit card?” </span></p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What?” Johnny asked, leaning forward to pull the paper off the desk and read it. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was a credit card log. His credit card log. Walt had pulled his credit card, the last transaction made almost a month before when Johnny had stocked up on groceries, most of them going bad while he stayed in the government bunker. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You pulled my credit card?” Johnny asked, appalled, looking between his two unapologetic friends, then back down to the paper. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah, I did,” Walt said, utterly unrepentant. “Answer the question!” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I paid in cash,” Johnny said shortly, hands clenching angrily around the edge of the paper. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh huh?” Bruce asked sarcastically, clearly not believing him. “Then where’d you stay?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“A hotel,” Johnny answered, sending him a scathing look. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Really?” Walt asked with faux sincerity, dropping another few pieces of paper in front of him. “Because when I ran a check, there wasn’t a single hotel in Maine that had a Johnny Smith listed on their registries.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny picked up the papers, reading a list of hotel names and addresses before he threw them back on the desk in disgust.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“When you came back with this Kennebunkport claim,” Walt continued in frustration, “I checked again, and still no cigar.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Maybe I used another name to check in!” Johnny argued.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Why, is someone following you, Johnny?” Bruce demanded.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Well, <em>apparently</em>,” he shot back, waving a hand at the papers in front of him. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Johnny, either tell us where you were, or I’m booking you,” Walt said seriously. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“On what grounds?” Johnny demanded.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“On the grounds that you’re an idiot and we’re worried about you!” Walt yelled, paying no heed to the officers in the bullpen that turned their heads, curious as to what was happening in the office. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Why?” Johnny yelled back, shoving his chair back and standing angrily. “I changed my answering machine message! Was that not enough?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, it’s not enough!” Walt shouted, rounding the desk to confront him. “You’ve talked to one or both of us every single day since you woke up from the coma, and then you disappear off the map for three weeks on a vacation you’ve never mentioned, and you expect us to believe that everything is fine?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yes! I was fine! As the man who’s done just <em>fine</em> taking care of himself for almost four decades, I’m telling you to drop it!” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Walt took a step forward, not backing down. “Well, as one of the friends that would have to bury the absolute idiot known as Johnny Smith if he got in something over his head, I’m telling you I won’t!” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What do you want from me, Walt?” Johnny asked plaintively, his anger cracking, leaving a helpless exhaustion to peek through, and Walt felt himself calm down a little at the sight. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I want the truth,” he said quietly, staring at the man in front of him. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Look,” Johnny sighed, running a hand through his hair and shooting furtive looks at the other two men before dropping back into his chair. “I can’t tell you guys, I honestly can’t.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Why not?” Walt asked, sitting back in his chair as well, leaning forward as he watched Johnny’s gaze drop to the floor in front of him. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I just can’t,” Johnny said helplessly, sounding honestly frustrated by whatever he thought demanded his silence. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Fine,” Bruce said watching Johnny seriously, and Walt shot him a look of surprise. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“If you can’t <em>tell</em> us,” Bruce continued, significantly emphasizing the word ‘tell’, “then maybe we can work in hypotheticals. If, say, a dear friend of mine who gets himself in a lot of trouble all the time and has been kidnapped on three separate occasions were to disappear for three weeks on an unplanned, unpacked for, vacation leaving only an answering machine to tell his worried friends vaguely where he went, where do you think he would go? Hypothetically of course.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny stared at him, a small smile twitching at his lips. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hypothetically?” he asked seriously. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Completely hypothetically,” Bruce assured. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny cast a glance at Walt, raising a questioning eyebrow at him. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Walt shook his head, raising his hands in surrender as he sat further back in his seat. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Completely hypothetically,” he agreed. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny huffed a small laugh, dropping his gaze to the head of his cane, where his hand clenched the silver top. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Well,” he started after a long pause, “if... well, say, hypothetically, that your friend was a psychic. A real one, that had made national news. Then say that this friend had a vision of a man with no birth certificate disappearing, and say he investigated and discovered the man was a retired Cold War spy that had been moved by his handlers because this friend had met him.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“He was a Cold War spy?” Bruce demanded, eyes wide in shock. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hypothetically,” Johnny said, with a pointed look. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Bruce nodded, looking dazed. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So what happened next, hypothetically?” Walt asked. “That was hypothetically months ago.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny nodded. “Yeah, hypothetically that was almost three months ago. But, hypothetically, the spy’s government handlers were displeased the psychic found that out, and they were hypothetically displeased that the psychic called the news corp to the house, so the government handlers couldn’t arrange for the psychic to be in an accident on his way home.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny shrugged a helpless shoulder at Walt, who stared at him in horror. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“The psychic was hypothetically warned that he was not to tell anyone about this event, and that anyone he informed would also find themselves victim to an unfortunate accident. The psychic agreed, and continued living his life, but then, he hypothetically got a knock on his door. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">If all this were true, then the government had written a file on him, and someone just happened to see his file that was interested in this psychic power, say, visions, just for the sake of this example.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Bruce and Walt nodded silently, listening avidly. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So, say this hypothetical government had a hypothetical super secret underground bunker at an undisclosed location where they asked psychics to help them find terrorists in the Middle East. Say this psychic was asked to go and help. Say it was implied this was not a request.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now, hypothetically this psychic has friends that he didn’t want to worry, and hypothetically, when he asked if he could contact them first, considering the agents had taken his cell phone, he was told absolutely not. Say he argued that his friends would worry, and eventually the government handlers agreed to let him record an answering machine message.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now, in this hypothetical situation, the psychic wasn’t hurt. They gave him a room, plenty of food, books and movies to entertain himself, but the entire bunker was a blackout zone, no phone calls in or out. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hypothetically, they treated him well, they wanted him to touch objects they brought from the Middle East to help them find targets. Hypothetically, he got crystal clear visions, extremely helpful data. Hypothetically, there were three other psychics working in the bunker, and all four shared a kitchen and common room off the hallway of their bedrooms. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">If any of this were true, then the military had strict rules that the psychics were not to tell each other anything that happened in their sessions, claiming it would cause bias or skew results. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hypothetically, the psychic that had friends who were worried about him saw very specific visions, but didn’t actually see the target. Hypothetically, the army didn’t care and sent a team deep into enemy territory to take care of it. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hypothetically, the psychic was extremely uncomfortable that the lives of eight people might be lost over information from his vision if he was wrong. Hypothetically he broke the rules and demanded to know if any of the psychics had seen the target. Hypothetically, they hadn’t. So this psychic might have gone to the government handler in charge of them, and demanded to be put back in the vision room to try to get a vision of the scene. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hypothetically, it was a trap, and the psychic barely saw it in time to have command central relay it to them and save them from the explosion, but not soon enough to save them from being pinned under the ambush outside. Hypothetically, the psychics all worked together to get the government troops out of their problem, and they barely succeeded in getting all of them out alive.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hypothetically, the psychic decided he had had enough, and asked his handler to let him go home. She reluctantly agreed, letting him out of the super secret underground bunker, and firmly informed him that death was the best he could hope for if he released classified information.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"><em>Then</em>, he hypothetically came home, got some much needed sleep, and was ambushed by the friends he had missed. His two incredibly stubborn friends who wouldn’t take no for an answer and who threatened to arrest him.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Walt huffed a small laugh. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hypothetically, the friends aren’t sorry,” Walt informed him. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hypothetically, he can tell,” Johnny assured with a roll of his eyes. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Hypothetically, that’s insane!” </span>Bruce exploded next to him, waving his arms around to demonstrate his point. “If this ever hypothetically happens to my hypothetical <em>best friend</em> again, he needs to hypothetically write a note and leave it somewhere in his hypothetical house for me to hypothetically find!”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“He makes a point,” Walt said seriously. “You’re on their radar now. Hypothetically. What would you think of setting up a few places in your house you can discretely leave notes so if this ever happens again we’ll know where you are?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I could be ok with that,” Johnny nodded. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What if he can’t write anything?” Bruce asked anxiously. “Like what if they don’t leave him alone long enough?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Walt nodded. “We’ll set up a specific part of wall by the doors, and the kitchen counter, use your fingers to trace out a message, fingerprinting will reveal it.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Ok,” Johnny nodded, “so you two want to come over this weekend to talk about it?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Sounds like a plan,” Bruce agreed. “We’ll meet at nine, you’re making us breakfast.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny rolled his eyes but huffed a laugh. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Anything else I can get you, your highness?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Coffee,” Bruce added, unbothered by the implied teasing. “Lots of coffee.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Walt nodded along, so Johnny huffed another laugh. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Fine, nine o’clock, breakfast, and lots of coffee it is then.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“So I think that’s everything,” Walt nodded, accepting a glass of ice water from Johnny. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah,” Bruce agreed sardonically. “Now the trick will be Johnny remembering it.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Whatever, man,” Johnny scoffed, scowling at Bruce as he handed his friend a glass of ice water as well. “I can remember it!” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh huh,” Bruce said sarcastically. “Ok, everywhere you can leave discrete written messages, go.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Each of the bathrooms now have a wall tile that pulls out with pen and paper in them,” he said, raising a finger, “my bedroom now has two different fake outlets installed with pen and paper,” he brought up another finger, “the coffee table has a box attached underneath,” he raised a fourth, “and pen and paper are clipped to the bottom of my Jeep’s driver seat.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Walt nodded, pleased, and Bruce gave a grudging, “Good.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What about the other signals?” Walt quizzed. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny rolled his eyes. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“If there isn’t a chance to leave a written note, I’m going to leave fingerprints you guys can dust for. The places we decided were all of the doors, the six inches above the light switch by the outside doors, and above the alarm code, as well as the side of the kitchen island and that one banister post with the green line we added.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Good,” Walt echoed Bruce, more sincerely. “And the signals themselves.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny rolled his eyes dramatically and turned to the cupboard to get himself a glass of water as he answered. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“If it’s the government, I will leave a flat handprint, just how we practiced, making sure the bottom of my hand is visible in the dusting as well. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">If the person isn’t with the government, I’ll leave only clear fingerprints, no palms. A thumb print if the person is male, a pinky of the person is female, and my middle finger if there are some of each. If there are multiple men, or multiple women, I’ll leave that number of fingerprints, all thumb or all pinky.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Good,” Walt nodded, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he took another long drink of water. “Good, that’s good.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Beside him, Bruce let out a deep breath of relief, nodding along. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny’s annoyance softened at the reminder his friends were worried about him, and he sent them a reassuring grin. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’ll be fine, guys, but thanks for helping me put all those in. I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving. Pizza?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Bruce and Walt exchanged a glance and a shrug. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m in,” Walt said, looking back to Johnny. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m always down for pizza,” Bruce agreed. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny laughed, picking up his phone. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Good,” he chuckled as he started dialing the number he had memorized, “because while it comes, we need to clean the fingerprint dust off all my doors.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Nah, man,” Bruce grinned. “It’s your house, you clean it.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It was your idea!” Johnny shot back adamantly. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, it wasn’t,” Walt argued in pseudo-innocence, enjoying egging Johnny on. “Why would we have come up with an idea like practicing dusting for fingerprints?” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Because you’re both absurdly paranoid and won’t even let me help out in the Middle East without pulling my credit cards and threatening arrest!” Johnny retorted indignantly. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Bruce shrugged with a smirk. “Hey, dude, I thought you went to Kennebunkport, we were just discussing hypotheticals.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They both laughed long and hard as Johnny scowled at them, clearly internally tell them where they could hypothetically shove it. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hypothetically,” Johnny’s scowl darkened as he looked at them both, “you’re the worst.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They laughed harder. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hypothetically,” Bruce countered, “no we’re not.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny huffed out a relenting sigh. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hypothetically, no you’re not,” he admitted reluctantly. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“That’s the spirit,” Walt agreed, “now get to orderin’! Hypothetically preparing makes me literally hungry.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Johnny shook his head with a grin, wondering how he had gotten lucky enough to have these two overprotective idiots for friends.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Fine, one pizza and assisted door cleaning, coming right up. And.... hypothetically, thanks.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’re welcome, Johnny,” Bruce smiled, “no hypothetical needed.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! I'd love it if you let me know what you think!</p><p>If you're looking for more fanfiction to read and you're in the Merlin or White collar fandoms, check out my baby sister's work <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summer_Meadows/pseuds/Summer_Meadows/works">here</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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